The secret revealed: the chilling connection between the hostages and Ammunition Hill

A new memorial plaque at the Battalion 66 memorial on Ammunition Hill commemorates five fighters who fought in the battle for Jerusalem during the Six-Day War and were murdered in the October 7 massacre or in Hamas captivity. The connection was kept secret during the captivity period for fear of the hostages' lives, and was only revealed after their fate became known.

A new memorial plaque has been added to the Battalion 66 memorial at Ammunition Hill, ahead of the third anniversary of the October 7 massacre. The plaque commemorates five fighters: Haim Peri, Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Oded Lifshitz, and Amitai Ben Zvi, who fought in their youth in the battle for Jerusalem during the Six-Day War. Four of them fought directly in the battle for Ammunition Hill. Nearly 60 years later, on October 7, 2023, Peri, Munder, Metzger, and Lifshitz were abducted from their homes in the western Negev to Gaza and murdered in captivity. Ben Zvi was murdered in his kibbutz on the morning of the massacre. During the captivity period, the connection was kept secret out of fear that its exposure would endanger the hostages. Only after they were brought back to Israel and the magnitude of the tragedy became known was the decision made to reveal the connection. Amnon Neubach, a board member of the National Center for the Heritage of the Six-Day War, was quoted as saying that the connection chillingly links two significant chapters in the history of the state.